1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to reimbursement of travel expenses.
2. Background Art
During business travel, customers may incur reimbursable expenses. To seek reimbursement, the customer may have to submit a travel expense voucher (TEV) to a processing center. The processing center determines whether the TEV is in compliance with a policy. If the TEV is in compliance with the policy, reimbursement is approved. Otherwise, reimbursement is denied. If reimbursement is approved, payment is made to the customer. If the customer charged the travel expense to a corporate card, the payment may be credited to the card.
Processing a TEV can be a labor and paperwork intensive process. To manage TEV processing, a spreadsheet has been used to track incoming TEVs. However, using a spreadsheet has limitations. For example, an operator has to verify manually that each TEV is in compliance with the policy. Also, the spreadsheet does not keep the customer informed of progress in processing their TEV.
What is needed are improved systems and methods to process TEVs.